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Who constitutes the team of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the European Union (EU)? What goals do we seek over the next 6 months? What are the key events to be held in Lithuania and abroad? Here we have 34 of the most interesting facts related to the national Presidency.

184. The period in days (1 July to 31 December) that Lithuania will preside the decision-making process in the EU.

The first. Lithuania will be the first Baltic State to hold the Presidency of the Council of the EU. Latvia will take over in 2015 and Estonia in 2018.

Trio. We are taking over the Presidency from Ireland and will hand it over to Greece. These three Member States form the Presidency Trio, with the objective to ensure continuity in implementing the joint 18 months Presidency programme. Lithuania welcomes the successful Irish Presidency.

Expanded family. 1 July marks an important day not only for Lithuania but for Croatia as well. Today is the day when Croatia officially becomes a new EU Member State, thus expanding the community to 28 Member States. Croatia, welcome to the team!

Start. Croatia on the occasion of joining the EU will also be welcomed by the President Dalia Grybauskaite. The President will attend festivities on the occasion of Croatian membership in the community on 1 July in Zagreb, together with other EU leaders. On the occasion of the start of the Presidency, today at 9.00 a ceremony of flags hoisting will be held by the Government, with the attendance of the Prime Minister Algirdas Butkevicius, members of the Cabinet, foreign ambassadors and other guests. In Brussels at 11.00 a press conference will be held, where the permanent Irish representative to the EU will hand over the Presidency to Raimundas Karoblis, Lithuanian permanent representative to the EU.

Duty. The key task of each Presidency includes not only representing its own interests, but also that of a fair intermediary. Each Presidency must seek the agreement of all EU Member States and the EU institutions regarding EU legislation and joint activities. This is also what determines the success of the Presidency.

Benefit. The Presidency is a real opportunity to demonstrate that we can run the development of EU rules as well as any other EU Member State. This is also an occasion to strengthen our position in the EU, present our country and its achievements, and for every Lithuanian citizen to learn more about the EU processes, to raise and deal with the relevant issues, and to feel like true citizens of Europe. This is also an excellent opportunity for businesses to present their products and services.

Priorities. The Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU will focus on the three goals of credible, growing and open Europe. The Presidency's efforts will be directed at further strengthening the ground for financial stability, continuing work to establish the banking union and implementing new agreed rules on economic governance. Further integration of the single market, including energy, the focus on digital agenda and measures for better employment opportunities, in particular for youth, will make the European economic and social model more solid. Lithuania will promote closer integration of the EU and its Eastern Partners, the continuation of the enlargement policy, free trade with strategic partners and effective management of the EU external borders.

Agenda. Lithuania expects an extensive and complex agenda. The workload will be even greater than usual as we are presiding at the end of an EU institutional cycle, where the European Parliament and European Commission will seek to complete work started before the 2014 election. In terms of the EU Presidency, Lithuania will have to "manage" some 560 issues on the EU agenda, and seek compromises acceptable to all. Besides the regular EU legislative agenda, there will be another only seven-yearly task for the Presidency, related to the several dozens of EU legislation on the implementation of the EU multiannual budget (2014-2020). Lithuania will also need to reach agreement regarding the annual EU 2014 budget.

Budget. In the period of 2012 to 2014, the State budget has allocated LTL 214 million to the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU. The budget of the Lithuanian Presidency is one of the smallest, and similar to that of the Irish, Cyprian and Slovenian Presidencies, thus raking among the most cost efficient.

Guests. It is expected that during the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU some 30 thousand guests will visit the country.

Sponsors. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs has signed sponsorship agreements with 15 companies. The total support of all companies exceeds LTL 2 million. The guests will be transported by 180 BMW cars allocated for the period of 6 months of the Presidency by Krasta Auto. Orlen Lietuva will provide the fuel. Birstono Mineraliniai Vandenys ir Ko has provided 100,000 litres of Akvile and "Vytautas" mineral water for the Presidency's needs. "Baltic Data Centre" will provide data storage and back-up copy services. DHL Lietuva will take care of the delivery of gifts of the representation. Other sponsors will offer various support to the Presidency.

Presidency team. The Presidency team includes over 1,500 civil servants in some 80 institutions. This includes 239 of them as chairmen (160 in the capital city, 73 in the permanent representation of Lithuania to the EU, six in Lithuanian missions / representations at international organisations), and some 270 as deputy chairmen of working groups. Another approximately 1,000 people will carry out other Presidency-related functions (acting as experts and coordinators).

Volunteers. Some 100 volunteers will assist the Presidency in running Presidency events, meeting arriving guests at the airport, and ensuring the smooth flow of events at the conference centres. Volunteers are mostly young people 16 to 35 years of age.

Liaison officers. 80 liaison officers will accompany heads of foreign delegations and will offer full support related to attending meetings in Lithuania. The recruitment of liaison officers is a regular practise of Presidencies of the Council of the EU.

Events. The six months of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU in Lithuania will include over 200 events, over 20 of which are categorized as summits, over 160 expert-level meetings, 12 Parliament events, and over 70 meetings run by social partners.

Venues. The top level meetings involving Ministers, Heads of States and top EU officials will take place in three venues, i. e. the National Gallery of Art, the Litexpo Exhibition and Congress Centre, and the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania. It was decided to hold the meetings in Vilnius due to the experience related to the previous Presidencies and in order to save funds.

Cities and towns. Expert-level meetings, involving the Heads of Agencies and Departments of EU Member States as well as senior officers will take place in Vilnius, and other cities across Lithuania, including Kaunas, Klaipeda, Druskininkai and Trakai. Meetings of social partners run by representative of non-governmental and public organisations, and the research, business and cultural sectors will also take place in Marijampole, Alytus and Anupriskes.

Brussels and Luxembourg. These are the places where Lithuania will hold more than 1,500 meetings over the period of 6 months: including meetings of the Council, committees of the permanent representatives, working groups, etc. The meetings will be chaired by the Lithuania Ministers, the Lithuanian permanent representative to the EU and his deputy, special attachés, and experts of public authorities, etc.

Opening event. The start of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU will be marked by an opening event scheduled on 5 July in the Grand Courtyard of Vilnius University. Jose Manuel Barroso, President of the European Commission, and members of the European Commission, Herman van Rompuy, President of the European Council, President Dalia Grybauskaite, members of the Lithuanian Parliament and the Government, foreign ambassadors, Lithuanian members of the European Parliament, and other distinguished guests are expected to participate.

The Night of Culture. The festival marking the opening of the Lithuanian Presidency will move from the Courtyard of Vilnius University to the streets of the city. This is where the festival of the Night of Culture will take place on the night of 5 to 6 July. The festival will invite Vilnius residents and guests to attend 167 events, including artistic installations, music concerts, exhibitions, performances, and a wide range of other projects by Lithuanian and international artists.

Meeting of the Heads of State of the EU and Eastern Partnership (28-29 November). This is a key event to be held during the Lithuanian Presidency. It expects to see both the EU leaders and the Heads of State of the Eastern Partnership. In the meeting, is expected that the association agreement with Ukraine will be signed, and other important issues on cooperation between the EU and the Eastern Partnership countries will be solved.

ICT 2013. The conference on information and communication technologies as well as exhibition will be held along with the European Commission, and will take place in Vilnius on 6-8 November. Top information technology scientists, company representatives and strategy makers of digital technologies will discuss issues regarding the policy of European information and communication technology. This will be the largest event during the Lithuanian Presidency, expecting up to 4,000 guests.

High-level Energy conference (4-5 November). The conference will largely discuss the objective set by the European Council on 4 February 2011, i. e. to complete the implementation of the EU internal energy market by 2014. The conference has invited Ministers of EU Member States and candidate countries, as well as Ministers of the countries of the Energy Community, officials of the European Commission, and other high-level representatives.

Forum of the EU strategy for the Baltic Sea Region (11-12 November). Key topics of the event include environmental protection, growth and job creation. The forum will seek to discover the integrity of the Baltic Sea region strategy, consequently, the strategy, its objectives and benefits will be discussed in various aspects (including environmental protection, energy, social policy, communication and agriculture) and various levels (including regional, national and local self-government).

Event closing the Year of Citizens (13 December). 2013 is the European Year of Citizens. As Ireland took over the Presidency of the EU Council in early January, an event opening the European Year of Citizens was held in Dublin. It is expected that the closing event of the Year of Citizens in Vilnius will attract up to 300 participants from various European non-governmental organizations. The event will also include an international conference with the guest speaker Viviane Reding, Vice-President of the European Commission.

Cultural programme abroad. The second semester of 2013 will involve Lithuanian diplomatic representative offices across the five continents to present Lithuanian culture and art; also the exhibitions specifically designed for the Lithuanian Presidency will introduce to the national photography, cinema, architectural and natural monuments. Over 150 cultural events will take place in Europe and around the world, including 68 concerts, 42 exhibitions, 4 performances and 17 cinema presentations. For example today, an interactive exhibition on UNESCO heritage, "Lithuania in the mail parcel", opens in the NATO capital, Brussels.

History Book. Book of Lithuanian History by professor and ambassador Alfonsas Eidintas, professors Alfredas Bumblauskas and Antanas Kulakauskas, and doctor of history Mindaugas Tamosaitis has been published in six languages, including English, German, French, Polish, Russian and Spanish. The book will be presented as a gift to foreign diplomats, politicians, civil servants; at the moment, everyone with an interest in history can download the book for free on the internet.

Logo. The Lithuanian logo symbolises a united EU, with Member States both willing and able to cooperate, fostering common European values and able to tackle any challenge. The colours of the logo are a reminder of Lithuanian connections to the Baltic Sea and north European region, while the blue band in the European Union flag is a symbol of shared values and work. The circle of the logo is connected by a garland of yellow, green and red – the colours of the Lithuanian national flag. This connection demonstrates that in the second semester of 2013, the responsibility for holding the Presidency of the Council of the EU is entrusted to Lithuania. Based on the idea of Simona Mykolaityte, selected by visitors to the DELFI news portal, the logo was developed by graphic designer Kotryna Zilinskiene.

Gifts. The ministers and other top-level officials will receive works of arts by Lithuanian graphic authors or special 50 litas silver coins issued on the occasion by the Bank of Lithuania. Members of lower level delegations will find gift basket with three small yet practical gifts, including a reflector, a universal mobile phone charger and a small box of cheese with a black plum flavour (during the warm season) or warm mittens (in the late autumn and winter). All guests and journalists will receive sets of stationery, including notebooks and pens. Lithuania as every other Presiding countries will also present a traditional protocol Presidency gift to key persons of the Presidency, a tie for the gentlemen and a scarf for the ladies.

Postage stamp. On the occasion of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU, Lietuvos Pastas has issued a new postage stamp. The background displays the flag of the European Union, and in the centre there are the flags of the Member States. The special postage stamp for the Presidency was designed by artist Indrė Ratkevičiūtė. The postage stamp will be issued in 80,000 copies with a nominal value of LTL 2.45.

Postcards. Lietuvos Pastas on the occasion of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU has also published special postcards. The Ministry of Foreign Affairs together with the news portal DELFI organised competition of photography called "Greetings from Lithuania". 650 submissions were received, and visitors of the DELFI portal selected the five most popular pictures. These pictures decorate the postcards that guests of the official events can send back home postage-free.

Social networks. The message of the Lithuanian Presidency of the Council of the EU will also be made widely available on the Internet for the next 6 months. The latest news, information about the Presidency events, pictures and videos will be available on the official website eu2013.lt, as well as on the official Presidency accounts on Twitter and Facebook social networks. Twitter account @EU2013LT (also known as "Vilnius account") will be used to report Presidency-related news, live stream from events in Vilnius and generally keep its followers up to date with Presidency material coming from Lithuania. At the same time @EU2013LTpress (also known as "Brussels account") will do the similar activity with news and events coming from Brussels. Both accounts will tweet mostly in English language. In addition to this, Lithuanian Presidency has a special Facebook account "ES Pirmininkavimas", dedicated to spread less formal news and engage wider Lithuanian audience in the Presidency and European issues not only by posting fresh news, but also organizing quizzes, posting galleries of pictures and much more.

Lithuanian President Dalia Grybauskaite says her country's first time at the helm of the EU will be "a presidency you can rely on, the presidential press service said.

We will deliver what we promise to deliver," she tells EurActiv in an exclusive interview. Lithuania succeeds Ireland on Monday (1 July) in the six-month presidency.

Dalia Grybauskaite has been president of Lithuania since 12 July 2009. A former vice-minister of foreign affairs and minister of finance, she was the European commissioner for Financial Programming and the Budget from 2004 to 2009. Often referred to as the Iron Lady or the "Steel Magnolia", Grybauskaite is Lithuania's first female head of state.

She spoke to EurActiv Editor-in-Chief Daniela Vincenti on the margins of the EU summit last week.

"So we finally have a political agreement on the EU's long-term budget. That must be a big relief for the Lithuanian presidency. I call it preliminary still because this agreement still needs to be voted on in the European parliament. Is this a satisfactory political agreement? What do you think of it? I think it's a compromise between what the Council wanted and what the Parliament wanted. Flexibility, which was a sensitive dossier, in reality was agreed partially. By that I mean that on payments for the first years there is no capping. And the last three years, from 2018 to 2020, there is capping.

So both sides achieved partial capping or partial non-capping, it depends which side you are talking to. This is a compromise. The rest was already agreed a few days ago – the revision clause and front – loading (the Youth Employment Initiative). In the long run, I think the package is good for both sides. It will allow the union to function until 2020. Yes, I think it will if the endorsement will be fast. If it will be finally voted on, we can expect already in 2014 the first tranches to come into our economy, especially to solve youth unemployment and for new projects to start.

The Lithuanian presidency will have about 70 legal acts to negotiate for the multi-annual financial framework. The Irish presidency has already started. As soon as the Parliament gives the green light to the so-called political pre-agreement, we will be able to do our job by the end of this year. You mentioned front-loading and the funding allocated to tackle youth unemployment – EUR 6 billion against the EUR 700 billion provided to bail out banks. How do you explain this imbalance to EU citizens? We also know that EUR 3 billion will be taken from the social security fund and 3 probably from other 1A (budget heading) lines, maybe even horizontal programmes such as energy and transport, which are also very important to the European Union.

So, really, we are squeezing ourselves, we are reprioritising our very lean resources form one to another priority. But all our priorities which are in 1A are really very important. You're right to compare the money we are putting into saving banks rather than for the stimulus for our economy, but the European budget are very small. Will that allow the union to become more efficient, to do more with less? You know with such a small budget, which now is even lower than 1percent of EU GDP, is difficult to talk about efficiency. Despite the crisis, still about 80 percent of the EU budget goes to traditional policies and for the rest we are trying to reshuffle our priorities in the leftovers. These are very small amounts. If we front-load for youth unemployment we are taking away from transport and energy connections, which is again very important. So in reality we are trying to say somehow that some priorities are more priorities than others, but it's still in the same basket.

Because of the small budget, the European Parliament asked for flexibility and here, as ex-budget commissioner, I understand fully that with such a low budget you cannot execute payments without very large flexibility, which is why I was arguing in favour and supporting this request. Lithuania is assuming the presidency of the EU at a key moment when 28-country bloc has been rocked by the eurozone crisis and a lack of internal and external confidence. How will you make sure to switch gears so that the EU regains its credibility and legitimacy, just ahead the European elections in May 2014?

That is exactly about priorities, about what Europe needs and how it wants to respond to the economic situation. One response is to increase investments into stimulating our economy and tackling unemployment. We are going to have at the very beginning of our presidency a high-level conference in Berlin that will be attended by all EU leaders. We will try to find out how to use this very small amount of money can be used efficiently to save Europe's young generation – give them a job and a future. We will look into best practices of Austria and Germany to find out how they are tackling youth unemployment. So, all member states will be able to look at this experience and translate best practices in their countries. We will also try to have as soon as possible efficient programmes to be able in the first two years of the financial framework, in 2014-15, to use it as efficiently as possible – youth guarantees, exchange programmes, new forms for youth engagement into practices, into beginning of their first job. There are a lot of initiatives, we just need to find out which are giving the best and fastest results, but it's not only about youth unemployment of course. We are also inheriting other dossiers to finalise like the internal market, the digitalisation of our economy. We will make progress on these areas.

You mentioned the banking union. Do we need to move towards further political integration to tackle the democratic deficit and create what WTO chief Pascal Lamy called an 'affectio societatis', meaning greater affection for the European project? I can also say that there is a lack of affection from national governments in practically all member states, because the economic recovery is slower than we expected. The trust in national government is diminishing in most countries. That affects the support of the European Union differently in every country. It also depends on the amount received from the EU, which differs from country to country. In my country, for instance, we still receive about 3 to 4percent of our GDP so it is very visible. But in some countries it is the opposite. Some countries are paying and, of course, in this environment of economic difficulties, it is very difficult for people to be positive. So, here I see a more general attitude throughout Europe which is very much influenced by the economic situation, as we are not able to recover fast enough. But we also know that national politicians sometimes, when they are unable to manage their country, they look to blame somebody outside. And it's easier to blame the European Union or Brussels, which is really non-existent, as Brussels is created de facto by the member states and their leaders.

So it is not easy to answer the question but I think the more positive mood is usually coming in a different economic cycle, in a more upward-rising cycle than at the bottom. But aren't you afraid that ahead of the European elections that might disrupt the political mood for, let's not call it integration, but better management of the EU? Some decisions we made already in recent years on governance (six-pack, two-pack, banking union) were prompted by necessity to react and tackle the economic crisis. These were not done because one day member states woke up willing to be more eagerly integrated. We had a growth and stability pact and we never really respected it since 2005, exactly before the crisis. So all this integration mood, especially on economic matters, was pushed mainly by economic factors from outside, not from inside, as a need to react and to survive and to stay competitive.

The globalisation challenges that we are now facing, especially being less and less competitive in the world, it is important for Europe to be more integrated economically. We need to finalise our internal market everywhere – in finance, in digitalisation, in services – to be able to compete, to be able to solve the economic pressure coming from outside. It's not only about the debt crisis, it's also an economic crisis, and it's a symbiosis of both now. So economic integration now comes as an objective necessity and that always calls for some political integration. However, the process will be slow. You cannot impose by force more rapid political integration or more rapid economic integration. All this needs to mature. And with economic difficulties and cycles you need to build stone by stone. Also we should not forget that we are slow, because we are not one country, we are a union of independent states.

But stone by stone, if we look 10-20 years ago, there is an impressive progress. We are slowly building ourselves. It is probably the natural way for our development. Of course, some people are impatient, federalists or others. They want integration now. But I leave it to life and time to settle. But would you favour a core union that moves forward, faster than the rest? There are already countries with opt-outs. We do have a lot of models of how we operate because it depends much on our treaties. On our common policies; we need to have more or less unanimous decisions. All the rest are taken by majority. You can use just majority (voting) or you can use enhanced cooperation. But that is exactly defined by our treaties (Enhanced cooperation) is a very useful tool. It is often used but it does not mean that we have a two-speed Europe.

Most decisions are made by all 27 and now 28 member states, such as the European budget for seven years. It is a unanimous decision. Energy security is a key issue for Europe and the Baltic states. EU leaders at their May summit reaffirmed their objective of completing the internal energy market by 2014 and developing interconnections, so as to put an end to the isolation of member states from European gas and electricity networks by 2015. Is this wishful thinking or a realistic target? What obstacles need still to be removed? I think it is quite realistic. Maybe not 100 percent will be fulfilled, but it is very realistic and I can use the example of the Baltic States, especially Lithuania's case. For example, by the end of 2013 we will have pipelines connected with other regions. We will have a power link with Sweden by 2015. It is paid also partly for by European money.

So really we will be connected already in our own system and less dependent on Russia for gas. Plus, in the new multi-annual financial framework we have additional resources devoted to the connections between Lithuania and Poland. In our region we will deliver by 2014-2015 – and this is already quite a huge step in connecting our energy systems – electricity and gas, into European systems. What energy mix for Europe? Do you favour shale gas? First, in Europe we have to know what we have. It seems we are afraid to investigate really what we have.

Regarding shale gas, there is still a lot of prejudice that maybe it is not safe and secure. But the world's gas sector is under revolutionary change. In less than two years, if we are won't develop shale gas in Europe, the United States will start to sell shale gas to other countries, which today is already three or four times cheaper than the normal gas in the pipelines from the land. I think that this will change the total picture of the gas sector in the world because liquid gas won't be available everywhere and the energy terminals we have to build very fast, if we don't want to be dependent on Russian supply, for example.

Norway is ready to provide Europe the liquid gas, not shale gas, and competition in two or three years will be absolutely different. The gas sector will look absolutely different and we, Europeans, need to be prepared for it because today energy prices in Europe are absolutely uncompetitive. We are paying a lot and this jeopardises our recovery and development. We need to invest into interconnecting ourselves and into the security and diversification of supply. This means also to be able to accept liquid gas from anywhere, from Norway or the United States. If we want, in the short term or the medium term, to be less dependent we need to investigate what we have ourselves. Even in Lithuania there are possibilities that we have something in between shale gas or maybe oil and still we are a little bit afraid to start to investigate as all Europe is trying to postpone these questions. To not know what kinds of resources we have ourselves is a huge mistake and a very costly mistake. We need to understand that with such energy policies in the European Union, we are shooting ourselves in the foot and we will be less and less competitive and our recovery will be more difficult, more costly to our people. So finishing the internal market for energy and services....

Absolutely a must. And the third energy package to make us competitive, no matter what, against all lobbyists, which are doing the opposite work in Europe (laughter). During your presidency the European Council in December is going to focus on defence. Do we need a common defence policy? I think we need a lot of more common policies if we talk about the necessity of deeper integration, especially seeing that globalised tendencies in security in the world are changing, and especially the US attitude towards their presence in Europe.

Looking at the international terrorist activities, how they are shuffling around Europe, I think that more coordinated efforts on defence, maybe not joint, are necessary. It's not only about defence, it's about the defence industry, it's about securitising our neighbourhood. We have to review our role in NATO, as the US is asking Europe to be more active in defence policies. So I think it time to think about that. The last time Europe was discussing those questions was seven or eight years ago. So the mood is right? No, I think that terrorism around Europe reminds us that we need to anticipate. Your presidency will take place at the time of launching the EU-US negotiations for a trade and investment partnership. Can a deal be reached in 15 months? Look, it depends on the mandate. If we are talking about a real free trade agreement in all sectors, it is not possible to do it fast. It depends on what sort of free trade agreement we are talking about because a lot of elements will have to be opted-out. Already we see the French opt-out on the cultural exception, intellectual property is always very difficult to negotiate, some elements of agricultural or environmental policies...Of course, there will be objective necessity to have very close trade relations between two large trade centres, the US and the European Union. Yes, everything is possible but the understanding of free trade in Europe and the US is so different. Until now it is so different that I can only imagine a free trade agreement if it will be absolutely, globally necessary for these two centres to be competitive.

If they don't have any other choice, basically.... Yes, otherwise why did we not strike a deal before? But sometimes external necessities can push us for some sort of negotiation agreement. I envisage some opt-outs, which will be one of the possible solutions to speed up negotiations. But we need to understand that we are not only negotiating with the US, we are really negotiating with the NAFTA region, and it is North and Central America – Canada, Mexico. In reality it is a negotiation between two continents. They are also talking about a living agreement which means it will be... Updated, updated. Precisely, we are talking about some sort of framework. At least as a first step it is welcome and it is really objectively necessary. For both sides it is very important, especially seeing how competitive have become other areas, like China.

But if the mandate will only be a framework mandate, fine. And maybe it will be more clever because life is very fast-changing so maybe more and more things will come up which we will need to negotiate and to update. You have been called Iron lady, alluding to your determination. I would add competence and unpretentiousness. Would you agree with this description? Will that be the right description for the Lithuanian presidency? These descriptions come from abroad. Inside Lithuania, I am called only Dalia and nothing else probably (laughter).

I think the main goal for us in the presidency is commitment, professionalism and results. This we will try to achieve and we will work hard as much as we can, we are learning, we are preparing ourselves very well. The Luxembourg presidency comprised a very small team but they were doing very good work. We are not a very large country but our people will try to do their job professionally. We'll see now, if the MFF is final and will be endorsed, it will be really more technicalities left for us to negotiate, a lot of workload, a lot of legal acts, of course. We calculated on the table already more than 300. We have some to finalise and some to push. Seventy-four for the budget but others are in the pipeline, including enlargement, the Eastern Partnership, these kinds of things. But we will do our best job and descriptions you will make, not us. So the Iron presidency?

If the presidency will have as much power as possible, of course maybe we will be able to be iron (laughs), but the treaties and the balance of powers are limited. If you were to think of the legacy of your presidency, what would it be? We will strive to be a trustworthy presidency – a presidency you can rely on. We will deliver what we promise to deliver. Your name has been floated for one of the top jobs in the EU. Would you feel like coming back to Brussels? But you know how this happens. It is a game, you journalists like to do. In my home country nobody is floating my name that way. I'm always saying that I am not speculating about my future. I'm mainly responding to what the Lithuanian people want and I responded in 2009 when I went back for the presidency. Now, again, it will be for the Lithuanian people to decide where they would like to see me. But what kind of leadership do we need in Europe? (Pauses) I think we need leadership. It's not about what kind of leadership, just leadership. A leader takes responsibility, sacrifices himself/herself for other people. You need to start from yourself ... you need to be a leader in whatever you do, " – said Lithuania's President Dalia Grybauskaite.